Word Origin & History

opportunist 1881, from opportune + -ist. Borrowed from It. opportunismo, a word in Italian politics, later applied in French to Gambetta (1881) and then generally in English to any who seek to profit from the prevailing circumstances. Related: Opportunistic.

Example Sentences for opportunist

Seizing every opportunity as it arose, he was the type of what is to-day called in France an opportunist.

He was an opportunist, and now, he fondly imagined, was his opportunity.

We won't admit he's just a latter-day tyrant, an opportunist seizing power because it's there crying to be seized.

In philosophy she was a Platonist, in politics an Opportunist.

She was strong enough in body and mind, but very uncertain philosophically and morally—a dreamer and opportunist.

Yet he is a materialist, an opportunist, and mainly trusts to brute force.

That astute Italian diplomat was himself temperamentally an Opportunist.

He was an opportunist, who sought to accomplish his ends by diplomacy.